On September 13, the body of Colonel Khavazhi Amayev—an Ichkerian fighter with the Chechen volunteer Sheikh Mansur Battalion, which fights on Ukraine's side—was found in a Lviv apartment bearing multiple stab wounds. Amayev was better known by the call sign "Zumso."

Law enforcement agencies have reportedly detained a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of the murder. The circumstances and motives behind the crime have not yet been established.

Amayev was an active participant in the Chechen resistance during the Second Chechen War under the command of Doku Umarov. Following Umarov's death, he remained in the armed underground until roughly 2012. That same year, Amayev joined the armed struggle on the side of the Syrian opposition. He commanded the "Kataib Ibad ar-Rahman" unit and became known as Zumso ash-Shishani. He was a wanted man in Russia.

According to some reports, the deceased was a close associate of Akhmed Zakayev—head of the government-in-exile of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria—whose eldest son serves in the same unit as Amayev.

Following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Amayev joined the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, fighting alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He later became deputy commander of the Separate Special Purpose Battalion (OBON) of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The unit saw combat in the Kyiv, Kherson, and Donetsk sectors, among others.

Russian official and pro-government media outlets have put forward two mutually exclusive versions regarding the Ichkerian fighter's death. On September 13, the publication *AiF*, citing war correspondent Yuri Kotenok, reported that "Russian forces eliminated a Ukrainian Armed Forces mercenary—Colonel Khavazhi Amaev, call sign 'Zumso'—in the Special Military Operation zone."

"His path back home was… cut off. He was a Nazi himself and fought for the Nazis," the publication quoted the aforementioned war correspondent’s Telegram channel as saying.

By this afternoon, the article had disappeared from the publication's website, though reprints remained available on other news aggregators.

The state news agency TASS offered a different version, citing an unnamed source:

"Khavazhi Amaev, an infamous Ichkerian terrorist known as 'Zumso,' has been killed in Lviv. He fought against Russian forces in the Chechen Republic, in Syria, and—most recently—in Ukraine. He held the rank of 'Colonel' in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and served in a GUR [Main Intelligence Directorate] unit. The killing may well have been orchestrated by SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] operatives amidst a conflict with the GUR," the TASS report stated.

As of the time of publication, neither Ukrainian law enforcement agencies nor representatives of Ichkeria had provided any definitive clarification on the matter.